Holy Cow!

First of all I am surprised how a book with such a title ever got released in India, knowing how the mere mention of "cow" in India creates an uncalled for and an inexplicable furore! When I came across this book at Crossword, it grabbed my attention with the big colorful picture of Shiv and of course the name. But the cover photo and the name are very misleading when you turn to the back of the book that says it is an account of India by an Australian journalist who shows her middle finger to a guy, who reads her palm and predicts that she'll be back in India to fall in love with this country, while waiting to board her flight saying good riddance to the land she loathes--India!

And guess what! the guy's prediction does come true when she finds herself on a flight to India to join her boyfriend who works for ABC. She finds that eerie but nothing as to what awaits her in India. And thus begins her love story in and with India that takes her from Kashmir to Kerala on a roller-coaster ride of her emotions!

Answer this simple question: What does a pale white-skinned non-native Indian do when he/she arrives in India? and you know what this book is predictably about! She packs her rucksack and trots all over India from Vaishnodevi to visiting ashrams from Osho to Sai Baba to
Amma. I was wondering how she missed Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (after having visited Bangalore) but methinks back in 2003 when she was busy penning down her furious thoughts on paper, The Art of Living had not become the cult it is today!

For most part of the book, she only bitches about India and its multi-ethnicity and the zillions of faiths and traditions practiced. She is also unforgiving when it comes to our accents and the drawl and the real stuuuuuuuuuuupid way we speak English (Ms Sarah I am sure you have been meeting a lot of the wrong people). What's worse is she spells most of the Hindi words and expressions, used copiously in the book, horrendously herself. So much of hubris for not bothering to consult Hindi pundits after taking lessons from one for so long!

For 300+ pages, the book really becomes tiring and dull and so very predictable. Her own love story and her book become the cliched Bollywood material, which she detests sooooooooooo much!